A NEW task force has been set up to explore ways to introduce a new fair and balanced secondary schools admissions system in Limerick.
Fine Gael city councillor Jim Long, a member of the Limerick and Clare VEC, submitted a motion at a recent meeting to tackle this issue. Following a lengthy debate, Cllr Long was selected as a member of a new special task force to examine the secondary schools admissions policy system in Limerick City and County.
“Every year when places are allocated, a huge number of children living close to their first choice schools are rejected and the trauma the family go through is very distressing.
“This can cause complete breakdown of families who are trying to come to terms with a lifelong upset inflicted upon their child. They also suffer huge loss at moving from their friends and in most cases they are offered their sixth, seventh, eighth choice of school, very often miles away or at the other end of Limerick,” he claimed.
The task force held their first meeting last week to set out a draft document for all relevant sectors including secondary principals, trustees, boards of management, members of the VEC and the general public.
“It is my wish to collaborate with all sectors to introduce a new fair and balanced policy. We must examine the way applications are allocated and by whom. I am confident we can change the present system,” Cllr Long concluded.
